University Credit Union names community engagement manager for central Maine
mainebiz.biz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mainebiz.biz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tips for responsible spending during online shopping sales
wabi.tv - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wabi.tv Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Blue skies were smiling and bluebirds were singing for Irving Berlin, but blue is actually nature's rarest color. Blue flowers are less than 10% of the world's 300,000 flowering plant species. Even some of the few animals and plants that look blue don't actually contain the color. Blue jays and Morpho butterflies, for example, have developed unique features that distort the reflection of light to appear blue.
Humanity has been obsessed with blue for thousands of years, from ancient Egypt when blue, the color of the heavens, was used in temples, ceramics and statues and to decorate the tombs of the pharaohs. In Medieval Europe, ultramarine blue was highly sought after among artists, but was as precious as gold. Johanns Vermeer, who painted 'Girl with a Pearl Earring,' loved the color so much that he pushed his family into debt to purchase the paint color. Art historians believe Michelangelo left his painting 'The Entombment' unfinished because he cou